Make No Miss Stake About It

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I had a tough time with this one. And for once, I’ve actually seen episodes of most of these shows. So instead of operating from complete ignorance, I have just enough knowledge to be dramatically misinformed.

And there were plenty of shows that, of course, as soon as the poll was published, I thought of but didn’t add. I love Due South. I was surprised nobody nominated Mission:Impossible. I also loved the first couple of seasons of Millenium – it almost never failed to give me the creeps. I always had a soft spot for The Wild, Wild West as a kid, as goofy and improbable as it was. I got nightmares from Night Gallery, The Twilight Zone, and especially from The Outer Limits. And there were other shows that certainly made their mark on television as a whole – the original Star Trek, for example. On the whole, it seems to me that there have been plenty of really terrific dramatic series on television. It was nice not to see nominations for Profiler or The Love Boat.

Of the shows listed here, I think you could make a strong case that Homicide is about the best dramatic show currently on television. In fact, I left off Buffy, The Outer Limits, the original Star Trek, and The Twilight Zone with the idea of doing a best sci-fi/fantasy poll. But the Slayer is not to be denied. So much for planning.

I’m not a regular viewer of Buffy, but the people I know who do view it regularly are passionate about it. I’ve really enjoyed the episodes I’ve seen - it’s fun to watch, the stars are good actors and they make it easy on the eyes, the plot lines are really pretty good, and it really is a great show. But you can say the same for NYPD Blue and Law and Order. I guess Buffy, for all its charms, never struck me as particularly groundbreaking or important, enjoyable as it may be.

In the end, I voted for Hill Street, because I think it had everything that Buffy has, plus it did it first. In my mind, it was the first show to weave long-running subplots into the show week-to-week, the viewers got to know and care about (or despise) the many regular characters as individuals within the ensemble, everything didn’t always tie itself up in a neat little bow at the end of the hour, the performances were terrific, it was gritty and realistic, there was always humor, tension, release – it seems to me that it really created the mold that shows like Homicide or Buffy have stretched. I think these devices in television have now become so commonplace that we forget how radical they were when Hill Street was created. I mean, 98 Emmy nominations says something.

Of the multi-work drama shows (and I include Columbo here - as I remember it, Columbo, possibly the coolest television detective ever, was originally part of the Sunday Night Mystery Movie, in a rotating format with McCloud, McMillan and Wife, etc), I think the real standout was the adaptation of I Claudius done on Masterpiece Theater. If you’ve never seen it, seek it out.

And I guess it wouldn’t be a poll unless there was at least one "Huh?!" from me. This poll’s "Huh?!" is for Hawaii 5-0. I watched that show every week when I was a kid, because I think my mother had a thing for Jack Lord. And I thought it was, you know, OK. And OK, I’ll give you the "cultural contribution" factor – "Book ‘em, Danno" has become a common phrase in the American lexicon, and even the theme music is still commonly hummed (I still think that’s up there with great TV show music). But really, now. Mike Connors as Mannix could’ve beaten Jack Lord as McGarrett in a fair fight. Plus Mannix had that groovy secretary, Peggy, and all McGarrett had was Danno (OK and Chin too). But best all-time TV drama? I think that’s a bit generous.

Poll Topic: Best All Time Television Drama
Buffy The Vampire Slayer	13.6% - (128 Votes)
Hill Street Blues	12.6% - (119 Votes)
The X-Files	9.1% - (86 Votes)
Star Trek: The Next Generation	8.7% - (82 Votes)
Moonlighting	7.4% - (70 Votes)
ER	6.9% - (65 Votes)
Law & Order	6.3% - (60 Votes)
Homicide: Life on the Street	4.7% - (45 Votes)
NYPD Blue	4.2% - (40 Votes)
St. Elsewhere	3.1% - (30 Votes)
Dallas	2.9% - (28 Votes)
Columbo	2.4% - (23 Votes)
Twin Peaks	2.4% - (23 Votes)
The Fugitive	2.4% - (23 Votes)
Gunsmoke	1.8% - (17 Votes)
Northern Exposure	1.7% - (16 Votes)
Masterpiece Theater	1.5% - (15 Votes)
L.A. Law	1.1% - (11 Votes)
Pretender	0.9% - (9 Votes)
Picket Fences	0.8% - (8 Votes)
Bonanza	0.8% - (8 Votes)
The Paper Chase	0.7% - (7 Votes)
Mystery!	0.6% - (6 Votes)
Hawaii Five-O	0.5% - (5 Votes)
Playhouse 90	0.5% - (5 Votes)
Murder, She Wrote	0.5% - (5 Votes)
Beauty and the Beast	0.2% - (2 Votes)
Harry O	0.2% - (2 Votes)
The Defenders	0.2% - (2 Votes)
Providence	0.1% - (1 Votes)
Chicago Hope	0% - (0 Votes)
Total Votes: 941